It Was Your Eyes
by isekai-me-away
Summary: She won the war. She fulfilled the prophecy. There was peace. But... she felt empty. So she covered it with a grin, and beared it. Then she saw his eyes. And she couldn't stop coming back. Fem!Naruto. Drabble-y.
1. Chapter 1: Just Hari

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.

* * *

He left her.

Again.

She watched as he turned his back on her, walking through the village gates with easy familiarity. He said that he wanted to redeem himself, to travel the world, to protect Konoha from the shadows.

But, in reality, he's leaving her again.

It wasn't enough that he tore into her chest and left her for dead at the Valley. It wasn't enough that he scorned her when she only just found him at Orochimaru's base. It wasn't enough that he wanted to destroy Konoha, to destroy her, when he learnt the truth of his brother.

Even now, when he's supposedly redeemed, he chose to leave her.

Naruko's sapphire blue eyes dulled, and something in her broke when she would never be enough for Uchiha Sasuke.

...

Her friends could tell that something was wrong with her. Her smiles were stretched too tight, her eyes weren't bright, and she didn't even bother with harmless pranks, like she used to before.

They avoided mentioning the last Uchiha, and looked at her peculiarly, as if she was made of glass.

Naruko couldn't blame them. She felt like she could break apart any time now.

Funny how she could handle bijuus, the Akatsuki and Tsunade-baa-chan, but Sasuke always seemed to make her crack.

_(She didn't want to think about how they were supposed to be teammates, partners, friends-_

_-**family**.)_

_..._

She finally became a jounin.

She stared at her vest. The victory felt empty and hollow.

She wondered if she would feel the same after she became Hokage.

...

There was a new shop in town.

The man that owned was a potter. She heard that his creations were beautiful and durable, and that he can take requests. Not only that, but he also did a little bit of woodwork on the side. Picture frames, carvings, and she even saw a kid playing a little flute from the shop.

It was called 'The Marauders' Den".

...

Naruko didn't think much of the new guy… at first.

People always moved to Konoha to start a business. Not all of them stick around.

The civilians always gossiped about him. How handsome he was, how polite, how he had the most adorable accent, and _Kami, those biceps!_ (The civilan's words, not hers).

Naruko ignored it as usual.

But when she heard that kunoichi like Mitarashi Anko (who cared little for men, except for sex), and even the ANBU _Uzuki Yugao_ visit the shop because of the man, she had to investigate.

...

Her first impression of the store was 'cluttered'.

The outside of the store looked like a rustic cabin. Like one of those safe houses you'd stop at in an RPG game and wonder why you couldn't be part of that reality and next to the warm fireplace, instead of outside in an alleyway, shivering as you played on a stolen game console.

There was a huge sign on top of the door, hanging from the pointed roof and swaying slightly in the breeze. The gold words "The Marauder's Den" seemed to glow, beckoning ambling customers in.

...

The inside made Naruko's lips quirk up, slightly intrigued.

There seemed to be no order to how everything was set up. Even with the darkness of the wooden shelves, the place was bright enough with large windows and unusual candles that appeared to float near the ceiling. There were tall vases, short vases, plain vases, picturesque vases, dog carvings, stag carvings, doe carvings, wolf carvings, otter carvings, cat carvings and so much more. Beautiful frames without pictures were hung all over the wall, put wherever and whenever in a devil-may-care attitude. Walking near the front of the store, she saw the sectioned off area. There was a pottery wheel and there were some seats around it.

Naruko walked up to the desk, idly playing with a carving of a ferret with a strange look of fear on its face. She dropped it back on the desk, and turned around, leaning against it.

She sighed. Loudly.

There was a low, smooth voice from behind her. It sounded amused.

"Welcome to The Marauder's Den. How may I help you today?"

...

_It was his eyes_, Naruto thought faintly as she walked out. _His eyes._

They were a beautiful emerald green. Dark, and burdened, and hiding secrets. The eyes of someone who was bogged down by the past, who couldn't escape no matter how hard they tried.

He knew pain. He knew loss. He knew betrayal.

His eyes were like hers.

_(She wanted to squash the hope that someone might be able to **understand**.)_

She was entranced, utterly spellbound by him. Not because of his smooth aricrostatic features. Not because of his charmingly spiky hair that seemed more gravity-defying than Kakashi's. Not because of his admittedly sculpted muscles as he casually stood there with a tank top that didn't leave much to the imagination. Naruko knew that beauty can be skin-deep.

Her breath caught, and she swallowed as her mouth suddenly became dry.

"What's your name?" she asked.

He smirked at her, not meanly, but not quite nicely either. "It's rather rude to demand someone's name before introducing your own, you know." he said, rather dryly.

Baa-chan did mention that. That she needed to work on her manners.

But didn't everyone already know her? She was pretty famous after that war.

Although, it's quite refreshing to introduce yourself to someone who didn't think that they know everything about you.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruko." She steeled herself for the inevitable gasp, shock, or shrieking.

His smirk just became wider. "My name's Hari."

Naruko tilted her head. "No last name?"

His smirk became a smile, and his eyes glazed with a wistful sort of longing. "No… It's just Hari." he affirmed.

Naruko stared at him.

He stared back.

"Let's be friends." Naruko suddenly blurted out. Her eyes widened and cheeks reddened as she realised what she just did.

Hari blinked. Then he gave her a slow smile, a little more genuine than the one she saw before.

"OK."


	2. Chapter 2: An Enigma

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.

* * *

Hari was strange.

Naruko noticed that he never had his back to the door. She noticed how his eyes would flit about and catalogue an area, as if always searching for a threat. Before sitting down to eat at Ichiraku's, his whole body would stiffen minutely, before relaxing as if nothing happened.

Naruko had the oddest feeling that Hari might- just _might _\- have been in a war.

But then he'd smile charmingly at her, and that thought would leave.

…

One time, Naruko saw Hari wearing glasses.

Her mouth was wide open, left hanging, as she struggled to process this new development.

The glasses were thin and round, and rested on the bridge of his nose as if it was meant to be there. The thin sheet of glass didn't even affect the vibrancy of his emerald eyes.

Then, he looked up at her.

Naruko started. The glasses made him look younger. Almost boyish. She wondered if he used to wear them when he was younger. He looked a little too comfortable with them on. Almost nostalgic.

"I didn't know that you wore glasses," she said curiously, walking up to his desk.

He had the weird little half-smile on his face again, and his eyes were looking at something far away. "I used to." he admitted, not offering any more information.

Naruko tilted her head, even more curious. He never talked about his past. Ever. "Why are you wearing them now?"

Hari stared at her a bit, assessing. Then he leaned back in his chair, sighing.

"Do you ever feel like you're missing something? Something that was so integral to your identity that after you finally shed it and grew up, a part of you wants to crawl back again, even if it hurts?"

Naruko's heart pounded. _If she could go back to the time when her greatest worry was the villager's acknowledgment while wearing that garishly orange jumpsuit? If she could see jiji and the pervy sage again? If she could go back to that time even though everyone hated her existence?_

"Yeah," she said, revising her opinion on Hari, "all the time."

Hari looked deeply into her eyes, deep into the recesses of her soul. Then, he nodded, and something in the atmosphere dissipated.

Then he smiled at her, a little more open than before, his eyes dancing with mirth. He tapped his glasses. "It's why I'm wearing them now."

Then, after all of that, he went back to his paperwork.

…

"Don't you ever get tired?"

Hari had a strange look on his face as he talked to her, the slightest hint of general disdain in his eyes whenever he caught sight of the villagers. Naruko saw him by coincidence in the market, and ran over to him, inadvertently bringing a group of her adoring fans with her. He didn't look very impressed with them.

Naruko walked closer to Hari. Oddly enough, the group let her be as soon as she did, and she looked up at him to see a facial expression she'd never seen before. The kind of facial expression she would attribute to nobles who came across a group of peasants. His whole body language radiated an intense dislike and his emerald eyes were hard and sharp. As if telling the villagers that they better not come near him if they know their place.

It was quite… disconcerting. She didn't forget about his question though.

"What do you mean?"

He glanced at the villages currently peering at their interaction.

"Of them."

Naruko tilted her head, and her hair fell over her face. She tucked it behind her ear, not noticing that Hari was observing her every move.

"Sometimes, but it's not all bad."

Hari raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, looking quite unimpressed.

"You don't resent their attention? Their need to constantly see you? Judge you?"

Naruko didn't like where this conversation was going. He wanted to uncover something that she struggled to bury deep into the recesses of her mind, thoughts and whispers that she never wanted to acknowledge.

_Like how the villagers don't deserve-_

Naruko shrugged. "I don't really think much of it."

He stared down at her, and seemed to find something in her expression. His eyes softened slightly with understanding, and he sighed. He reached out his hand, and patted her head.

"As long as you have your people."

Something in Naruko's gut tightened.

_Why does this man always see right through her?_

…

Naruko was taking a walk. She stuck to the outskirts of Konoha, where she saw more trees than she saw people, and pondered the newest enigma in her life.

Hari.

She realised she didn't know a lot about him. She knew that he was attractive, had pale white skin, dark, messy hair, and the most emerald eyes she had ever seen. She knew that he probably worked out and took care of his body, judging from the flex of his muscle whenever he moved his arms. She knew that he disliked the villagers, or more specifically, their hero-worship of her, and didn't seem interested in getting closer to anyone. She also knew that he had the feel of a soldier who fought in a war, because his actions reminded her so much of herself, that she sometimes felt like she was looking at a mirror image.

But there was something more. Hari sometimes acted like he understood her burden. Like he was intimate with that kind of responsibility. The kind that said you're the only one who could save the world.

But how could he notice and _understand_ when no one else did?

She heard the sounds of children playing, and realised she was nearing her old orphanage. She smiled a bittersweet smile, and almost turned around until she saw someone.

It was Hari.

His lips and eyes were alight with laughter, and he looked genuinely happy as he played with the children. He was wearing a thin t-shirt and knee-length shorts, and had two children sitting on his shoulders like they belonged there. The twins were shrieking in delight as Hari was being chased by a group of kids, and even though he was drenched in sweat, Hari didn't look tired at all.

After a while, he stopped playing with them. The matron - someone she didn't recognise, thankfully - came up to him and thanked him gratefully.

"Thank you, dear. You just made their day. I've never seen them so happy before."

Hari smiled at her. "It was no problem, ma'am." He absentmindedly ruffled the hair of a child that was latched onto his leg. "They deserve it."

...

Naruko learnt something new about Hari that day, something that she desperately dreamed of too.

Hari longs for a family.


End file.
